While being asked afterward about Matt Thornton pitching 1 1/3 innings to get the save, Cora took a page from Guillen’s book of snarkiness.

”Since I was the manager today, I never liked [Bobby] Jenks … [bleep] him,” Cora said, before laughing. ”No, Jenks was running during BP and tweaked the calf, so he wasn’t available. But you can put the other one if you want.”

May 28, 2010

It was welcome relief for Garcia, who already has exceeded the expectations held by the White Sox for him as a fifth starter. He might not top 90 mph on the speed gun, or even 85 mph on some days, but most importantly, Garcia knows how to win.

“Castro caught me and called a great game,” Garcia said. “[I] threw a lot of changeups, a lot of [garbage], but sometimes you feel good and that thing works. You got to go the way the catcher tells you and you can get out of those innings, and he called a good game. I threw [the changeups] because you throw them and they swing and miss. I want to keep throwing them until they start hitting them.”

“Very good changeup, nice slider, didn’t really use his fastball that much,” said Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon of the White Sox winning pitcher. “But Freddy has readjusted to life after the 95-mph fastball, and I give him credit for that. He used to be a mid-90s guy with a great changeup off of it. Now, he’s pitching primarily with his changeup and his slider. He did a great job.”

According to a source, the [White] Sox have been contacted about Jenks by several teams, but the conversations have gone no further than gauging availability. And yes, he is very available. In order for the Sox to maximize his value on the trade market, they have to show that his seven saves carry more weight than his 6.35 ERA.

The Scoop: Hudson hit rock bottom on April 27, when in a start against Columbus he allowed nine runs on eight hits in only one inning of work. After that outing, his ERA stood at 9.37 and he had allowed six homers through four starts. In five turns since, Hudson has dominated the IL just like we knew he could. He’s gone 3-0, 1.97 while striking out 41, walking just six and allowing one home run in five starts. With his 11-strikeout showing last Sunday, Hudson breezed past Aroldis Chapman to assume the league lead for strikeouts per nine innings with 10.99.

Michelle (Florida): Hey do you think you could tell me a little more about Dan Hudson and what kind of potential he has. Also do you see a promotion any time soon to the White Sox.

Jim Shonerd: Hudson has the potential to be a middle-of-the-rotation guy. He’s got a solid low 90s fastball and a good changeup, both of which he can use to pound the strike zone. His delivery has some deception, but it’s high maintenance, which can lead to inconsistency. Given how the White Sox rotation has performed this year and the fact that Hudson went all the way from low A to the majors last year, he could certainly get called back there if there’s an opening. It’s still just his second full season though, so more time to learn in Triple-A won’t hurt.

… True to the scouting reports, Ely isn’t lighting up radar guns — his fastball is averaging 87.9 MPH. However, he’s not using the pitch much (about 32 percent), and when he does, he gets strikes (70.1 percent, 64.4% MLB average). Ely’s bread-and-butter is his changeup. According to Pitch F/X data from texasleaguers.com, he has pulled the string about 41 percent of the time. The change has garnered a strike 74.2 percent (60.7% MLB average), and it has been whiffed at 21.6 percent (12.6% MLB average). He’s also mixing in mid-80’s sliders/cutters, as well as a slooow 70 MPH curve.

Despite his modest stuff, Ely has managed to get swinging strikes 9.1 percent to this point (8-8.5% MLB average), while getting batters to chase his pitches out of the zone 29.1% (27.7% MLB average). …

Well-placed baseball sources insist that the relationship between White Sox GM Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen is rapidly heading in the wrong direction.

“Kenny and Ozzie do not have anywhere near the relationship they once had and it appears that they only deal with each other when absolutely necessary,” said a longtime scout who has been around the big leagues for a long time. “If the team continues to struggle throughout the rest of the season it could become a bigger problem that will have to be dealt with.”

As teams near the 50-game line, we begin to see the true best and worst emerge. One-third of the schedule has elapsed, and if Winston-Salem continues at this pace they’ll win about 97 regular season games.

Pitch classifications provided by the Gameday Algorithm and may be inaccurate.

Pitch Type LWTS correspond to how many runs were likely to score on a particular pitch based on average run expectancy when each pitch was thrown and what happened as a result. Negative scores indicate more effective pitches.

Time to Plate is the time, in seconds, that it takes an average pitch of this type to reach the plate. This is strongly correlated with velocity, but also factors in movement.

… The underlying numbers, on the other hand, indicate that Floyd is far from declining. His FIP is a slightly improved 3.67, although his 4.04 xFIP isn’t as impressive. Floyd is walking slightly more batters this year, but he’s maintained his strikeout rate and increased his groundball rate 5%, up to 49% this season.

One of the primary reasons for his 2009 improvement was an increased ability to miss bats, and that’s something that he hasn’t lost in 2010. His contact rate has actually improved this season, progressing from 82% in 2008 to 78% in 2009, and it’s down to slightly below 77% now. He’s getting more swings on balls outside of the zone, and more swinging strikes in general. So while his ERA does look awfully ugly today, he does seem primed to improve a good deal, and that may have already began in his last start.

… Ely is from Harvey, Ill., a community about 20 miles from the North Side. And he is bringing his 3-1 record and stupefying control home.

But his proud dad won’t make the short drive. Being wheelchair-bound is part of the reason, given old Wrigley Field’s access issues. A small part. The bulk of it is that Mr. Ely is a fan of the city’s other team.

“It’s part mobility issues, because Wrigley isn’t wheelchair-friendly,” said the 24-year-old righty, “and partly because he’s a die-hard White Sox fan and he doesn’t come here.”